My Adidas

I recently watched Just for Kicks, a doc on sneaker culture put out in 2005 by CAID Productions and Canal+. Besides recording some of the funniest lines ever thrown down on film (courtesy of the Cold Crush Brothers and some die-hard sneaker aficionados), it provides the backstory to the explosion in the sneaker market in the early 80's, after b-boys adopted the look, favoring the grip and comfort that athletic shoes provided when they got their breakdance on. If you've ever seen Jamel Shabazz's Back in the Days, a retro-fabulous collection of street shots of urban youth posing in their illest circa 1983, it's basically those pages come to life, as archived footage of old Run-DMC concerts take you back to that groundbreaking era when, for the first time ever, young black men and their Adidas would "walk through concert doors and roam all over coliseum floors". The heavyweights of early hip hop and mega-brand marketing moguls come together to wax nostalgic about their heyday and shed some light on how exactly the sneaker phenomenon grew up out of Hollis, Queens and made its way onto the feet of every kid within earshot of a rap-emitting boombox. That the immortalizing and evangelizing in song of a brand that until then had only seen modest profits in the athletic wear market turned out to be a windfall (and from the unlikeliest demographic) shocked the shoe companies themselves, and they soon recognized the urban market as a real and influential force that was not to be ignored. Marketing gurus jumped in, proffered up a pretty penny, and the endorsements followed. After Adidas, Puma, Fila, Converse, and Reebok all became household names, Nike, the shoe that would never be cool, found its own cash cow in the Air Jordan.

All in all, it was a fun film. Post-movie, feeling oddly nostalgic for a cultural movement from which I was far removed and with strains of "My Adidas" echoing in my head, I decided to post my own tribute to throwback style, but with a modern twist. Witness Adidas Originals, a collection of shoes for the modern lifestyle that pay homage to the iconic styles of yesteryear.

The original superstar, worn laceless, prison style. Click here to see the new kicks.

Originals have branched out to include sportswear. These hoodies are my top pick from the offerings.



Here's a clip from the movie.


I'll call this clip,"There ain't that many joggers in the world, motherfucker."


Photo credit: www.adidas.com